Charles Michel

Charles Michel
Official portrait, 2019
President of the European Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2019
Preceded by	Donald Tusk
Prime Minister of Belgium
In office 11 October 2014 – 27 October 2019
Monarch	Philippe
Deputy	Jan Jambon Kris Peeters Koen Geens Didier Reynders Alexander De Croo
Preceded by	Elio Di Rupo
Succeeded by	Sophie Wilmès
President of the Reformist Movement
In office 18 February 2019 – 29 November 2019
Preceded by	Olivier Chastel
Succeeded by	Georges-Louis Bouchez
In office 14 February 2011 – 10 October 2014
Preceded by	Didier Reynders
Succeeded by	Olivier Chastel
Minister of Development Cooperation
In office 21 December 2007 – 14 February 2011
Prime Minister	Guy Verhofstadt Yves Leterme Herman Van Rompuy
Preceded by	Armand De Decker
Succeeded by	Olivier Chastel
Personal details
Born	Charles Yves Jean Ghislaine Michel (1975-12-21) 21 December 1975 (age 48) Namur, Belgium
Political party	Reformist Movement
Other political affiliations	ALDE Party
Spouse	Amélie Derbaudrenghien
Children	3
Parent	Louis Michel (father)
Alma mater	Université libre de Bruxelles University of Amsterdamˈ

Charles Michel (French: [ʃaʁl mi'ʃɛl]; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician serving as the president of the European Council since 2019. He previously served as the prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Michel became the minister of development cooperation in 2007 at age thirty-one, and remained in this position until elected the leader of the Francophone liberal Reformist Movement (MR) in February 2011. He led MR to the 2014 federal election, where they emerged as the third-largest party in the Chamber of Representatives. After coalition negotiations, Michel was confirmed as Prime Minister of a MR-N-VA-OVLD-CD&V government. He was sworn in on 11 October 2014, becoming the youngest Belgian prime minister since Jean-Baptiste Nothomb in 1841.

In December 2018, the government collapsed following internal disagreements over the handling of the Global Compact for Migration, with the N-VA withdrawing from the cabinet. Michel subsequently tendered his resignation and remained in office in a caretaker capacity.^[1] At the 2019 federal election shortly afterwards, MR lost a number of seats, although Michel remained in office as interim prime minister during coalition negotiations. Weeks after the federal election, on 2 July 2019, the European Council voted to appoint Michel as its new president. He took over from Donald Tusk at a ceremony on 29 November 2019, formally beginning his term on 1 December 2019.^[2][3] In January 2024, he announced he would step down as president of the European Council to run in the 2024 European Parliament election, before reversing his decision within the same month and declaring he would finish his current mandate.^[4][5]